


Nocturne

by BroadwayBaggins



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: 100 word drabbles, F/M, Missing moment between season 2 and 3 I think, Sleepless nights, Vignettes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayBaggins/pseuds/BroadwayBaggins
Summary: Five midwives, five sleepless nights.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Nocturne

The night wouldn’t let her go. She kept going over it all, everything she had done, everything he had said. The snapshot that Jimmy had sent her sat on her nightstand, his words echoing in her mind. Be happy, he had written. As if it were truly that simple.

She sighed heavily, kicking at the bedclothes, feeling suffocated. She willed her heart and mind to stop racing, just for a few hours. The phone could ring at any moment, and she would be needed. 

When Jenny finally closed her eyes, for once it wasn’t Gerald’s face she saw, but Alec’s.

* * *

The night wouldn’t let her go. While Cynthia snored softly in the bed next to her, she lay staring up at the ceiling, both wishing morning would come sooner and never come at all. The bottle beneath her bed sang to her, a siren’s call that she did not want to heed. She wasn’t on call--she could have a drink, just a little sip, really, it would help her sleep, she wouldn’t regret it in the morning...

Just one more, Trixie promised herself as she tiptoed out of bed and reached for the bottle. _Just one more teensy little drink._

* * *

The night wouldn’t let her go. Every night since she had been released from hospital, she had stayed up, listening to every sound from the cot beside their bed. Fred had said that so much of parenting was proximity, and he had been right. She was tuned in to every sweet little sigh, every breath, every movement from her precious boy.

Peter, if he knew, would tell her to sleep--that she needed every bit she could get while the little one slept. But after so long in hospital, separated from her baby, Chummy didn’t want to miss a single moment.

* * *

The night wouldn’t let her go. Something was out of alignment, but she could not quite put her finger on what. The stars, the planets--had they shifted from their course? Or was something else afoot here at Nonnatus House, something that was keeping her from her precious sleep?

So much was uncertain, the fate of the building chief among them. Did this old house know it was slated for demolition? Were phantoms in the walls keeping her awake? Perhaps that was it. The house itself was unsettled.

Perhaps a slice of cake would help her sleep, Sister Monica Joan decided. 

* * *

The night wouldn’t let her go. How could she possibly sleep, when she’d finally gotten everything she’d ever wanted? She was afraid to sleep, afraid that if she did she would wake up and find that it had all been a wonderful dream. She would wake wearing her familiar nightdress, ready to dress and go down for morning prayers...

But then Shelagh would wake and feel her hair loose around her face. She would feel the weight of the ring on her finger, not her old ring, but his ring, _Patrick’s_ ring. And Shelagh would remember, and she would smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Middlemarch is the queen of 100 word drabbles, so I wanted to try some of my own! She provided the repeated first sentence for each of these.


End file.
